The love of our Father expressed through a husband and father…

Lord or Savior?

Recently I sent a text to a young man that I met on a mission trip I lead back in 2012. The response I got was a little confusing and I realized this young man must have changed his phone number. So I proceeded to send him an email with a scripture and asked how he was doing. After a couple of days I got a response back that troubled my heart greatly. This was a young guy that was on fire for Jesus when I met him; when he came to the US he reached out to me, so I periodically have texted him. When I first met him the Holy Spirits presence was so strong in him that God spoke to me about him. This led to a number of things being said that have impacted my spiritual growth and my relationship with my Lord and Savior.

So, what was the response to this email? First of all, in the email response from this young man it appeared as if he did not even know me or who I was. Then I got a response stating that if I met him in Turkey he wanted me to know God was dead to him.

He proceeded to tell me how he gave 12 years of his life to God and that he lost everything. He lost his family, his country, his house, his job, he was imprisoned, and he finally lost his fiancé recently. He said that she was his last hope and now she was gone. In the end he said that God was dead to him, even though he may be alive to others, and that God would need to apologize to him for everything that has happened…

This morning, as I was praying and exercising, I was listening to an interview John Bevere did not too long ago. He was talking about his book, “Good or God”, and the revelation he had.

One of the scriptures he quoted was Romans 10:9, “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.”

He then made a statement that hit me to the core and the Holy Spirit helped me gain understanding.

First of all I cannot judge my friend, the persecution he has faced goes way beyond my comprehension and only God knows the condition of his heart.

What I began to realize is so often we seek out Jesus as our Savior and we give ourselves to Him as a Savior. When the reality is He wants us to seek Him out as our Lord and submit ourselves to His holiness and glory so that He can be merciful to us. This is the way to His grace and through His grace we receive salvation.

When we see Him as only our Savior we have expectations and when they are not met we experience anger and frustration. It limits our relationship with our Father and Creator. It becomes easy to set aside the things He has done to be offended by what He has not done. This is when we walk away from truth.

When we seek out Jesus as our Lord we surrender all that is ours to Him, because he is the ruler of our life and destiny. His desires for us are not the same as the desires the world has told us to seek out. His ways are not our ways. His truth is not our truth. The only way His desires, His truth, and His way becomes ours is if we submit ourselves to Him as Lord of our life.

“And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.” -1 John 2:17

Until we release the hold of this world we will never be able to overcome the loss that comes with submitting ourselves to Jesus as Lord of our life.

We will most definitely face persecution and hatred as we give our lives over to Jesus. He even told us that would happen, because it happened to Him, but He has promised that His grace will help us to over come.

“If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.” – John 15:18

“But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.” – 2 Corinthians 12:9

“for everyone born of God overcomes the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” – John 5:4

“Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.” – Hebrews 4:16

I believe that all we have and will have is a blessing and gift from Him. I also know that the things God has given may be taken away, but I do not believe it is a punishment. I believe He has asked us to be willing to release all of the things of this world so that He can sit on the Throne of Lordship over our lives. As we find our sufficiency in Him and delight in Him our world will change, because His desires have become our desires.

“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” _ Psalm 37:4

I am praying for the young man I met almost 4 years ago. I am praying that he realizes he is in a battle between his sprit and flesh. I can hear his pain and frustration, and I know that the world around us, and our own flesh, struggles with the injustices that we walk through and see every day. However, I also know that our spirit can overcome those struggles to see the greater picture and the glory that we long to attain and walk in. It is only through our spirit that we become one and unified with our Lord and Savior.